By Trevor Redden

Raiders jump ahead in series opener

Mar 23, 2018 | 11:32 PM

The Prince Albert Raiders jumped out to a 1-0 series lead on Friday night with a 5-3 game one road victory over the Moose Jaw Warriors.

Jordy Stallard struck twice in the first, Cole Fonstad tagged a pair in the second, and Regan Nagy scored in the third while Ian Scott stopped 35 of 38 Warrior shots for his first career WHL playoff win.

“This is a tough building to win in, so we came down and game one is a game that you want to make sure you go out hard and you’re ready. We expected them to be ready too, and they didn’t disappoint. They came out and they came after us, we were able to weather the storm, and were able to muster a pretty solid 60-minute game and get a win,” said Raiders Associate Coach Dave Manson.

Stallard got the Raiders on the board with a backhand that snuck past Warrior goaltender Brody Willms and just over the goal line with 7:39 remaining in the opening frame. A little under five minutes later, Stallard struck again as he knocked a Kody McDonald rebound past Willms to make it 2-0 after one.

In the second, Moose Jaw made it a one-goal game on a great individual effort by Brayden Burke, feeding Vince Loschiavo who got the Warriors on the board. Tonight was Burke’s first game with the Warriors since March 3rd after missing the last seven games of the regular season to injury.

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With Moose Jaw pressing, Cole Fonstad turned things around with a pair of goals for the Raiders to swing the game from 2-1 to 4-1 in less than ten minutes.

“The first one I saw a 2-on-2 and Miske was driving the net, so he did a great job to push the D-man back so I tried to cut to the middle to get a shot and I’m lucky it went in,” said Fonstad on his first of the night, putting the Raiders up 3-1.

“Second one, I just kind of took the puck and I think it was a broken play. Their guy threw it in the middle so I just went inside out and shot it and it went in too,” said Fonstad regarding his second tally, a beautiful individual effort giving Prince Albert a three-goal cushion after two.

Moose Jaw continued to push in the third, but Regan Nagy snuck his sixth career playoff goal past Willms on a 2-on-1 to make it 5-1, marking the end of the night for the Warrior netminder who was then replaced by Adam Evanoff after allowing five goals on 22 Raider shots.

Tristyn DeRoose responded for the Warriors with a rebound goal to make it 5-2 in the final five minutes, then with the Warrior net empty and the Raiders on the penalty kill, Kale Clague scored with a point shot through a screen to make it a two-goal game late, but that’s as close as Moose Jaw would get.

The two teams will meet again in Moose Jaw for game two on Saturday night before shifting back to Prince Albert for games three and four on Tuesday and Wednesday.

“We’re going to have to be better tomorrow. You know Moose Jaw’s going to be locked and loaded, they’re not going to go away quietly, that’s for sure, so I expect them to come out with their A-plus game and it’s going to be a tough night, so we have to be ready,” said Manson.

Scoring Summary

First Period

1-0, Raiders, Jordy Stallard from Brayden Pachal and Vojtech Budik, 12:41

2-0, Raiders, Jordy Stallard (PPG) from Kody McDonald and Sergei Sapego, 17:24

Second Period

2-1, Warriors, Vince Loschiavo from Brayden Burke and Brandon Schuldhaus, 5:53

3-1, Raiders, Cole Fonstad from Jordy Stallard and Zack Hayes, 7:19

4-1, Raiders, Cole Fonstad from Curtis Miske, 16:36

Third Period

5-1, Raiders, Regan Nagy, 6:35

5-2, Warriors, Tristyn DeRoose from Ryan Peckford and Branden Klatt, 16:14

5-3, Warriors, Kale Clague (PPG) from Justin Almeida and Brett Howden, 18:46

trevor.redden@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @Trevor_Redden